


MacCready For Hire

by SimplyWriting



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Cambridge Polymer Labs, Fortune Finder perk, Institue, M/M, Mental Instability, Profanity, Slow Burn, Use of in game perks, feral ghouls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9445670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyWriting/pseuds/SimplyWriting
Summary: Saying business was slow would have been generous. Jobs in the past three months had been far and few between and MacCready was hurting for caps. He had sent most back home to help care for Duncan, while the rest has been spent of food and necessities. He had though himself lucky when Eric came. Just following a clueless vault dweller around the wasteland and shooting raiders. If only it had been that simple. Now he was stuck with an slightly unhinged researcher who can't fight and had a penchant for finding the most dangerous places possible to scavenge. He should have asked for more caps.





	1. If It's too Good to be True...

He had slipped in quietly after Winston and Barnes had left, eyes warily taking the room. It was not the examination of a trained fighter, but the caution of a nervous slightly paranoid man. Hopefully, it wasn't another junky. “Look pal, if you're preaching about Atom, or looking for a friend, you've got the wrong guy. If you're looking for a hired gun, we can talk.” The man's face brighten considerably. 

“I don't know who Adam is and I don't want to preach about him. And I'm not looking for a friend, either. I overheard your conversation. I would like to hire you. Assuming you would provide protection and can follow orders, of course.” 

“I can do that, for the right price. I'll tell you what. Price is 250 caps. Up front. And there's no room for bargaining. What do you say?” Stated MacCready firmly. The grin he received unnerved him.

“That's quite reasonable. Service requires pay. Good service deserves good pay.” The stranger held out his hand. “I'm Eric Booker, pleased to make your acquaintance.” The ex-Gunner shook his hand.

“MacCready.”

Eric sat on the other couch in the room. Pulling a pencil and a notebook out the pocket of his lab coat, he looked at MacCready.

“A few questions first before payment. I just want to know a bit about your background. Make sure there are no conflicts of interested.” 

“Shoot.”

“Those men who you had a disagreement with. Who were they?”

“A couple of morons looking to climb the ladder of success by stepping on everyone else on the way up. You shouldn't be surprised though. That's how it goes when you run with the Gunners.” Eric made jotted down his response.

“I understand your dislike of them. I've worked with people like that before.” Commented Eric with a distant expression on his face. After a second, he refocused. “And the Gunners? I haven't heard of them before.”

“They're one of the biggest gangs in the Commonwealth. Got a rep for being crazy. You know, so tightly wound you'd think they're a cult of something. Stuck with them for a while 'cause the money was good, but I never fit in. That's why I made a clean break and started flying solo.” 

“It seems they don't think so. If everything was truly over and done with, I don't they would be coming to visit.” 

Uncomfortable on the topic, MacCready decided it was his turn to question Eric. “Now, what about you? How do I know I won't end up with a bullet in my back?” 

His potential employer chuckled a little. “Because, I barely know how to shoot a gun. You would have about five minutes of warning before I even got close to shooting you. Hence the reason for our conversation. But in all seriousness, you don't. The same way I don't know if you will shoot me after I pay you. The best reassurance I can offer you is that I want your services and you want my caps. If either of us dies then the other is disappointed.” 

MacCready gave a slight nod is acknowledgment of the logic. “Can't argue with that.”

“One more question. Have you ever worked for or been an ally of Vault-tec?” 

“No”, said MacCready, feeling slightly confused. “Vault-tec died with bombs.”

“Excellent!” Exclaimed Eric before getting up and walking over to him. He pulled out four small bags of caps and handed them to MacCready. “Feel free to count them. Each bag has a hundred. You're getting as extra 150 as a gesture of goodwill and as compensation for the nature of the job. This may be a little different than what you're used to. Bonuses will be payed for exemplary work. ” MacCready smiled and pocketed the caps.

“All right, Boss. You've got yourself an extra gun. Lead on.” 

“The first thing we're going to do is head over to Cambridge Polymer Labs. If I had to guess, it's filled will malfunctioning robots and feral ghouls.” Eric sighed. “As most of the fun places are these days. Come on then, let's not tarry!”

“Right behind you, Boss.” It was then that MacCready realized he should have asked for more caps.


	2. Mixed Bag

His new boss wasn't bad, at least as far as bosses who employ hired guns go. He actually was one of the nicer ones. If it rained, Eric stopped for shelter. Listened to his advice about not traveling at night though his boss didn't completely agree, citing that his Pip-Boy could find nearby enemies.

“We could be walking into an ambush and not even know it. Trust me, it's safer this way.”

“You're the professional so I'll trust your judgment. Thank you for looking out for my safety.”

The first night together proved interesting. As it turned out, his employer's eyes glowed in the dark which had the result of casting an eerie blue light where ever he looked. Terrible for stealth, but it kept them from tripping on roots and rocks as they found a place to rest for the night. It led for a short, but interesting conversation as they made camp.

“Part ghoul or something?” Inquired MacCready. Eric looked up at him, bathing him in a blue light.

“Cybernetics.” was his curt reply.

“Can you, uh, turn it off? It makes us a target.”

“Can't turn it off.”

“Seems like a bad design. Any chance you can get a refund?”, he joked.

“Wasn't my choice.”

On that note, Eric sat down with his back against his tree and closed his eyes which did little to dim the light. MacCready, who was keeping watch, was left with his thoughts about sticking his foot in his mouth and the quiet whir of mechanics that came from his boss every time he moved.

Despite the sudden bouts of moodiness or anger whenever MacCready accidentally touch on a sensitive topic, the job was good. Eric made sure he got three meals a day, even if the meals were small at times. It was better than what he got back at Good Neighbor, where he would forgo a meal to save caps. His boss was good, just odd. He lack basic knowledge about the wasteland. This led to MacCready answering his never ending questions.

“What is that?”

“A mirelurk. It's like a crab, but bigger. And meaner. Shooting the shell doesn't do much damage. Got to shoot its face or stomach. Makes it a pain in the as-” He corrected himself. “A pain to fight.” His employer would listen to him with rapt interest. Eric would then request that MacCready kill one. He always said “please”. Afterwards, he always said “thank you”. Odd, but nice.

MacCready had originally thought the guy just got a kick out ordering others to kill for him. He had thought wrong. After making sure it was indeed dead -which was done by having MacCready check it- his boss would examine it. Poking and prodding the specimen then tapping away at the Pip-boy on his arm,

“They're edible, ya know.” Offered MacCready. Eric would brightened and smiled as he did whenever he was told a new piece of information. 

“Really? Please do show me which parts!”

After showing him how to pry the leathery under-armor off and remove the oily meat, his boss investigated the rest of creature. Removing its heart and other organs which he would then dissect with a scalpel and examine, recording his findings all the while.

Shortly after, MacCready discovered a delightful fact about his employer. He knew how to cook and cook well at that. They had taken what could from the mirelurk headed back to a shack they had passed a short time ago. Eric gathered brush and twigs to start a fire and ordered MacCready to keep a look out while he cooked. The ex-gunner leaned against the door frame with a cigarette in his hand.

“So, I have to ask” started MacCready, risking putting his foot in his mouth once again. “You can start a fire with a modified laser pistol. One you modified yourself.” His bossed stirred the meat in the pot before adding the wild carrots he had found earlier.

“Yes, that's right.”

“But you don't know how to shoot a regular gun or even have basic knowledge about the wasteland.”

“Those are to very very different areas of knowledge, Mr. MacCready. But yes, that is also correct.”

Eric didn't offer any more information and MacCready didn't ask. Dinner was eaten in silence save for the chewing of food and MacCready's quiet groans of delight at the flavor. This was the closest thing he'd had to a home cooked meal in a long time.

The journey to Cambridge Polymer Labs had gone slower than MacCready had expected, though it didn't matter much to him. He was getting paid either way. His boss had a tendency to get distracted, becoming intrigued with every new thing he saw which led to unending questions. It reminded him a bit of Duncan's curiosity about world. It was endearing on a child. On a grown man, it was just strange. He had a sneaking suspicion that he had been hired to be Eric's teacher more than his protector.

“What's that?”

“A stingwing.”

“What's that?”

“Brain fungus.”

“What's that?”

“That is a super mutant and that means we should leave! Now!” This resulted in pulling Eric to a safe location by the scruff of his lab coat. “And no, this is not something we should fight at the moment.” This earned him the disappointed response of “oh, okay.” 

It wasn't fair to say that the learning was entirely one sided. MacCready had picked up pieces of – in his opinion at least- useless trivia. At the moment, MacCready was learning about fungus. Not that he particularly wanted to. However, if the boss want to give lecture then MacCready felt he had to listen. Or at least fake it.

“Glowing fungus!” Exclaimed Eric. “It is amazing how life has adapted to widespread radiation.” MacCready nodded, feigning interest though he doubted Eric even remembered he existed. “I had read about radiotrophic fungus before, but never did I expect to actually see it! And it glows!” He tittered excitedly. “Fun fact: Radiotrophic fungus was first discovered in 1991 in the remains of Chernobyl. Only three types have been identified. As it turns out, they use melanin to convert the radiation into food, just as regular plants use sunlight for photosynthesis.”

MacCready shook his head in disbelief. “How do you even know this?” To his surprise, Eric was actually listening. 

“Because I studied it, hoping to find a better way to...” He trailed off. The excitement in his eyes was gone, replace with a rather despondent expression. “Let's go, Mr. MacCready. The lab awaits us.”

-

The pair stood before the double doors of Cambridge Polymer Labs. Eric was frowning at the building, seemingly annoying with its existence. “The lab has only one entrance .” He gestured at the doors before them. “No emergency exits and no windows. Some how they managed violate every day safety code and regulation with getting caught. Personally, I think inspectors were paid off to save money on construction. Bergman didn't care about his employees. They were expendable. Replaceable.” Eric reflected for a moment before continuing. “Before the bombs fells, they were researching different metal alloys to stop radiation from penetrating power armor. This means they had substantial radioactive material inside. I don't know how well the containment room has held up. We may encounter some leakage. Here.” Eric pulled out a bottle of rad-x from his band, handing two capsules to MacCready before downing a pair himself and with that they entered.

Beyond the doors they were met with the sight of rubble. The upper level was missing part of its floor.   
Faded papers speckled with shards of broken glass littered the floor. The sight of the destruction elicited a small “Oh my” from Eric. Behind the rusted welcome desk resided a Mr. Handy model. 

“Welcome to Cambridge Polymer labs.”

Eric gingerly walked over the floor towards the robot and greeted her like an old friend. “Molly, you're still here!” The lenses on Molly widened and shrunk as she focused on the newcomer.

“Doctor Booker, welcome back. Have you come in answer to the job opening?” Eric gave a quick glance at the nearby turrets that were dutifully scanning the room. “Yes... I have” He began slowly, formulating the lie before continuing quickly and pointing at MacCready. “And this is Officer MacCready. He has been assigned as my guard. Have you seen the world outside? The government needs to step up security. There could be filthy communists lurking about! Thank the heavens above that the local commander had the generosity and kindness to give me a guard, bless his patriotic heart. God bless America and its military!” Behind him, MacCready was trying his best to stifle his laughter behind his hand.

“Is Officer MacCready okay? He seems to be suffering from a fit?” 

Eric clapped a hand on MacCready's shoulder. “This patriotic man has never been better! He was just enraged at the thought of filthy resource-sharing communists polluting our country.” He stated loudly and proudly.

“You are very lucky to have such a good guard. Please enter the clean room when you're ready. I will be waiting.”

The duo took the chance to pocket any goodies they found. There was near pristine pack of cigarettes in the break room which MacCready took with delight. Eric happily squirreled away a tin of coffee, a bottle of quantum nuka-cola, along with whatever he could find in the first-aid kits. 

“The was worst lie I've ever heard. What was that even about?” Asked MacCready who was currently looking through the lockers in the showers. 

“The robots that worked in sensitive areas, such as labs, were design to look for communists, terrorists, and dissenters. By being overly patriotic, I reassured her programming that we were good non-dangerous citizens. In my defense, it worked.” Explained Eric as he worked through the women's shower area. 

“I've give you that, it did work. The other stuff though? You knew Molly and she knew you. And 'Doctor Booker'? Would have been nice to know you could patch me up if needed. I would have spent more caps on bullets instead of stimpacks.” He pressed. 

“Not a medical doctor! Well, yes actually, but not really. Doctorate of philosophy in engineering. The medical degree was a happy accident. If I got both degrees, I didn't have to pay. It was a financial thing. I could, in theory, provide medical care to you, but I rather not. Not because I don't like you. I like you very much! But not like that. I would just rather you not get hurt.” Rambled Eric becoming increasingly flustered. “I spent money on you. I want my money's worth. ” He concluded lamely. Eric decided it was best if stopped talking and just focused on stuffing his pack with any remotely useful he could find. MacCready, having finished his ransacking of the men's locker room, poked his head into the women's. 

“Boss, you're a terrible liar.”

“I know.” 

“There's clearly something that you're not telling me. Not that I particularly care either way, I'm just a hired gun. But if there is something in your past the can comeback to bite you, I need to know. I was upfront about the Gunners. I would appreciate the same.” Said MacCready firmly. Eric looked away embarrassed. 

“I don't think any will likely come back.” Eric stood up and made his way towards the clean room with MacCready following behind. “If there is, I will definitely let you know.” 

“Please enter the clean room, so you can begin your work.” 

“Will do, Molly”

Behind them the doors hissed shut which made Eric stiffened slightly. MacCready eyed the room, this part of the building seemed to be in better shape. “I apologize for the inconvenience, but you will not be allow to leave until the project is complete. This is due to a shortage of staff.” Contaminated disinfectant spray filled the room. The Pip-boy on Eric's arm began to emit a series of rapid clicks. The gravity of what was happening dawned on them. Eric pounded on the glass separating the rooms. 

“Molly! Let us out of here! Active protocol Delta-325!” 

“I'm sorry Doctor Booker, I'm afraid I can't do that.” And with that, she hit the mute button and left.

MacCready rubbed his skin trying to stop the faint prickling feeling of radiation and listened to his boss yell at the empty room on the other side of the glass. He had to admit his employer had an impressive repertoire of profanity and threats. It even brought a little bit of color to his cheeks and he had worked with the gunners. 

“Boss, we need to find a way out. Before we become ghouls, if you don't mind.”

Eric snapped out of his tirade and nodded. “Good idea. Follow me.” When he walked into the laboratory, the clicking of the Geiger count subsided. Just outside the clean room was a skeleton wearing a blue dress. Eric look down at her sadly. “Rest in peace, Erika.” He continued forward and to his delight found an intact terminal. “Excellent. Her notes should still be on here.”

MacCready looked around the slightly scorched room. “It looks like something in here went boom. Maybe we shouldn't touch any thing?” If Eric heard him, he didn't answer. He was hunched over the terminal tapping away at the keys and reading information that was lost on MacCready. He could read, but all of the technical scientific mumbo-jumbo was meaningless to him. Deciding to leave his boss to his work, he wandered around the room. “There's got to be something of value in here. Anything.” He muttered to himself.

“There a damn fortune in this building. Worth millions.” Eric left the terminal and moved over to the controls panels and terminal on the other side before tapping away at that one as he did with the first. MacCready's heart missed a beat, temporarily forgetting their situation. No wonder his boss want to come here! “At least it was a couple hundred years ago. And that was in dollars, not caps. I'm not sure what the conversion rate.” His heart sunk. 

“You're a cruel twisted man” Grumbled MacCready which earned him a laugh from Eric.

“I was only half joking. If we come out of this alive, this could make me a small fortune. And you, by extension. If you continue to work for me.” 

“By selling this? Most people won't even know what this sh- stuff is.” Eric gave him a horrified look.

“ 'Sell this', are you mad? The fortune will be made by using it! If you so much as try to sell a single piece of equipment, I will learn how to use a gun just so I can personally shot you!” MacCready didn't doubt Eric's threat.

He hit a final key on the computer. “Finish their work, we can leave. I can finish it, simple enough. I only have to get the proper isotopes I just need you to keep me alive.”

“I can do that.” Said MacCready a bit relieved. “Where are they? I don't see anything in here that looks science-y.” Eric pointed at the set of doors that led to the rest of the facility.

“Out there with the... people. At most there should be a dozen. Probably less. There's one isotope in here, but it's not one we need.”

A small shiver went through his spine, thinking back to what happened with Lucy. “Yeah, they were people once. But trust me, their humanity vanished the moment they changed.” He took out his rifle and flicked the safety off. 

“I know their minds are gone, but I still see people in them.” Eric took out his laser pistol and nodded towards the door. “I'll go first, distract them. You take them out. You're the better shot”. 

“Got it.” 

Eric quietly pushed the sliding doors open and slipped through. He crept as far away from door as possible before creating a distraction. Putting his fingers to his mouth, he let loose a loud whistle. “Come and get it!” It certainly had the desired effect.

The noise drew attention from ghouls all across the lab. Eric climbed up on a pile desks that had been a barricade at one point time and began to shoot. Most of his shots missed leaving burn marks on walls or desks and filling the air with the smell of ozone. Occasionally, a red burst would catch a ghoul in the torso or graze a limb. While he was providing a good distraction, Eric was hardly making an impact. 

MacCready proved to be far more capable. He was crouched behind the partially open doorway and steadily hitting his targets in the head. Between the two of them, five had fallen. Things we going well until he heard the words “Oh, shit” and a clicking noise coming from Eric's laser pistol. 

Eric slammed his palm against the gun trying to eject the empty fusion cell with no luck. While he was distracted, a ghoul slammed in the barricade desperately trying to reach its next meal. The stack of desks fell along with Eric who landed with a loud thud.

MacCready fired a shot towards the attacker, but failed to hit a fatal blow. A forceful kick from Eric, however, was much more effective. Apparently a 200 year-old rotting skull was not very sturdy against a boot. The resulting sound was combination of a crunch and a squelch follow by “Ew ew EW!”. He scrambled to his feet and worked on scrapping his shoe against the floor. 

For the moment, there were no more ghouls coming. MacCready went over to check his boss. He had to keep his source of caps alive after all. “You okay?” Eric's face was pale and one of his eyes was twitching. 

“I'll survive.” He picked up his laser pistol and pulled a fusion cell out of his pocket before handing both to MacCready. “Could you reload this, please? I don't know what when wrong.” Energy weapons had never been his favorite; MacCready personally preferred old-fashion reliable bullets. After fiddling with it for a second, he was able to reload the gun. Handing it back to his boss, he asked.

“How have you survived this long without being able to reload a gun? Even children can do this!”

“You are not the first person I have hired to help me. I've traveled with caravans and employed scavvers. Hell, I've even bribed a few raiders to watch my back. I've managed to make it work. Also, thank you for reloading my gun.” With that, he set forwards to raiding the stockroom. MacCready follow after him.

“Raiders? Didn't strike you as a bad idea?”

Eric gently placed to new isotope container in his bag before taking the stimpacks next to it. “They wouldn't hurt me. I pay them in jet. A particularly potent and addictive variation. If I die, I can't make any more. This of course would result in terribly painful withdrawals. They are very helpful when properly motivate. I can ask them to kill their leader and they would do so as long as I had the jet for payment. I did ask a pair to do just that.”

MacCready stared the man before him. He had to be crazy to hire raiders. “And?”

“They did.”

He decided to stop asking questions for a bit. He could understand paying caps to others – hell it was how he made his living-, but to keep them hooked on drugs and threaten them with inescapable pain? It seemed just a little fucked up to him. 

There was little conversation after that. The pair went from room to room searching and looting. Eric would look for the elements needed to finish the project and examine the equipment. Occasionally, he would pocket any medical supplies he found. MacCready kept his gun ready for any hiding ghouls. As it turns out, there were several that hadn't been drawn out from the fighting. He would shoot them while Eric waited patiently behind him. The only time he went ahead was to carefully edge across the remnants of the floor to reach a terminal. It took him a few minutes, but eventually the doors opened. He quietly disarmed the traps and makeshift cyro mine before waving MacCready over to shoot the ghoul. It wasn't til they reached the observation room that a real conversation resumed. 

“The last isotope is in there.”

MacCready peered through the glass for a better look. “Why would anybody want barrels of radioactive waste? That's just stupid.” The glowing ghoul staggered into view and clawed at the glass.   
“Oh great.”

Eric contemplate the situation for a minute. “Wait five minutes for me to plant the cyromine and then opened the containment room. I'll try to do some damage while its frozen then I'll lure it out into the hallway where you'll shoot it. Afterwards, I'll grab the isotope. Sound good?” Asked Eric.

“That sounds terrible. It'll kill you then I'll get trapped.”

“I promise you, I'm better with non-gun weapons. Even with rad-x and a hazmat suit, you'll still get a dangerous dose of radiation.”

“And you won't?”

“The cybernetics make me more resistant than the average person. That combined with the rad-x, the suit, and only a short period of exposure will leave me in better shape than you. I also I'm your boss. What I say goes.”

“Then why the heck did you ask my opinion?”

“You might have presented a compelling alternate view. I felt I had ask.”

MacCready sighed. “Fine, go get the suit.”

-

To his immense surprise, the plan actually worked. Between the cyromine and Eric's work with a machete, the ghoul had sustained several injures to its legs. This granted MacCready time to line up a head shot. It had taken a couple bullets to head to fall the radioactive pile of flesh, but both of them walked away alive. 

MacCready sat at the table in room they first entered drinking a luke warm nuka-cola while Eric did – well, he wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but it involved finishing the project and that was good enough for him. He idly tapped the table with his fingers. After an hour of fighting and potential death, just sitting was painfully boring. He needed to do something. Have a smoke, drink some beer, read an issue of Gronak the Barbarian. Anything other than drinking warm soda at a table while waiting. 

A hum and the clunk of metal followed by “Oh thank God it worked” caught his attention. Eric was holding a power armor chest piece. “Mr. MacCready, come look at this. It's beautiful.” MacCready walked over and eyed it.

“Not what I would call beautiful. Kind of rusty actually. Useless without a power armor frame unless you want to sell it.”

“Rusty? It's a scientific masterpiece! This is quite possibly the most radiation resistant armor that has ever graced the face of this earth. No, we're not going to sell. Now, come. Molly should be happy.” MacCready followed him into the decontamination room. Eric tapped the glass and held of the chest piece.

“Molly, I've finished the project. We want to leave now.”

“Good job, Doctor Booker. Let's take this to the director. I'm sure he'll be delighted.”

The sliding doors opened and they follow after her. The director's office was on the second level behind locked doors. Before they reached the doors, Eric said quietly “Go check the rest of the level. I don't want any surprises when we leave.” 

“Got it, boss.”

MacCready readied his rifle and began his search in one of the side offices. The first one was clear. He had only just started the second before hearing Eric yell.

“What? No! Oh for fuck's sake, not again!” MacCready rushed towards him. 

“What's happen- the hell?” Before him was Eric with a bloody machete who looked like he was one wrong comment away from a mental break down, a dead ghoul missing part of its head, and a large pile of caps on the ground. Near the doors was a disabled Molly. “I left you alone for less than five minutes. What the hell happened? And what's with the caps?”

Eric took a shaky breath and weakly pointed at body. “There was a ghoul. The director. I wanted to kill him myself. Closure. For.. For his crimes against his staff. People. Molly turned off. I hit him with the machete and then..” He gestured at the mess before him. “Caps. Money. Exploding out of its head. This doesn't happen when you kill things! It's just not right. It's not.” He sent a desperate look in his direction. “Why?”

MacCready slowly shook his head in amazement. “I don't know. But that has to be the best superpower ever.”

-

Meanwhile at the Institute.... 

“Hey Jerry, do you ever get tired of screwing with this guy?”

“No George, can't say I do. You?”

“Me neither.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Criticism or comments are always welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome any and all criticism!


End file.
